2 Samuel 1:5 - Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown

2 Samuel 1:5

3 And David said to him, “Where have you come from?” So he said to him, “I have escaped from the camp of Israel.”

4 Then David said to him, ^a“How did the matter go? Please tell me.” And he answered, “The people have fled from the battle, many of the people are fallen and dead, and Saul and ^bJonathan his son are dead also.”

5 So David said to the young man who told him, “How do you know that Saul and Jonathan his son are dead?”

6 Then the young man who told him said, “As I happened by chance to be on ^aMount Gilboa, there was ^bSaul, leaning on his spear; and indeed the chariots and horsemen followed hard after him.

7 Now when he looked behind him, he saw me and called to me. And I answered, ‘Here I am.’

8 And he said to me, ‘Who are you?’ So I answered him, ‘I am an Amalekite.’

Commentaries:

Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown

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2 Samuel 1:2-12

a man came out of the camp from Saul—As the narrative of Saul's death, given in the last chapter, is inspired, it must be considered the true account, and the Amalekite's story a fiction of his own, invented to ingratiate himself with David, the presumptive successor to the throne. David's question, "How went the matter?" evinces the deep interest he took in the war, an interest that sprang from feelings of high and generous patriotism, not from views of ambition. The Amalekite, however, judging him to be actuated by a selfish principle, fabricated a story improbable and inconsistent, which he thought would procure him a reward. Having probably witnessed the suicidal act of Saul, he thought of turning it to his own account, and suffered the penalty of his grievously mistaken calculation (compare II Samuel 1:9 with I Samuel 31:4-5).

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